Leinster's European Cup hopes profited as Welsh visitors the Ospreys had second row Ian Evans sent off after just 20 minutes of Friday night’s final pool game at the RDS.

The Blues will now travel to face Heineken Cup champions Toulon in the quarterfinals after their 36-3 win when they benefited from two penalty tries during a game described by coach Matt O’Connor afterwards as a “circus.”

Man of the match Cian Healy, Jordi Murphy and Isaac Boss all scored tries as Leinster eased into the last eight.

“The result did go the way we wanted. There wasn’t too much disappointment about the performance. Once the red card was given it turned into a little bit of a circus,” O’Connor said.

“The circus didn’t impact on our ability to score tries, but it certainly changed the intensity of the contest and took away a bit of the structure we were trying to bring into the game, but you can’t do much about that.

“There was a red card, there were uncontested scrums, there was 14 blokes on the field, there were the penalty tries. It was all over the show, but I think the scheduling of it has to be looked at.

“The five-day turnaround doesn’t help in relation to professional athletes performing and preparing as well as they can for a game of that magnitude.”

Munster and Leinster could meet in a mouth watering Heineken Cup semifinal at the Aviva Stadium — if they can overcome French opposition in April.

Rob Penney’s Munster will enjoy home advantage in the quarterfinals when they entertain Toulouse at Thomond Park on the first weekend in April.

Leinster will have to travel to France to face European champions Toulon, led by World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson, in their quarterfinal, with the winners of both games set to meet in the semis.

Ulster will also enjoy home advantage in the quarters when they welcome Saracens to Ravenhill two months from now.

An Ulster win would see them up against Clermont Auvergne or Leicester in the last four.